The time has come to ask whether the Republicans are trying to lose this election -- and if so, why. Consider:
1. Rush Limbaugh accused Michael J. Fox of faking the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease in those powerful ads Fox filmed on behalf of Democratic candidates. Rush has made many ugly comments -- but few have been this odious.
2. Republican Barbara Cubin of Wyoming threatened to slap a severely disabled man running as a third-party candidate. Those of us who have dealt with the disabled know that they can be just as exasperating as anyone else can be; wheelchairs do not confer sainthood. But a politician should display maturity. Cubin showed none. She was seven points ahead as of the 17th; she may have just tied the race.
3. Ken Mehlman is running an insane ad against Democratic senatorial candidate Harold Ford. This seat is a must-win for the Republicans. The ad is filled with fake man-on-the-street interviews, although the fakery may not be apparent to viewers who believe in televised wrestling. The interviewees accuse Ford of favoring several evils, including the mythical Great Gun Round-up. (Ever since I was a kid, conservatives have promised that the GGRU would happen "some time next year." Wolf! Wolf!) The capper is an apparently nude blonde bimbo who claims that she met Ford at a "Playboy party." Ford is black. Obviously, Mehlman hopes to horrify Republican Tennesseeans with the idea of black-and-white sex -- although the sort of people bothered by that image might have a few things to say about Mehlman's own private life. Stung by the backlash, Mehlman now falsely claims that the ad his committee paid for is beyond his control.
Those are but three examples. I could also cite the instantly-infamous "ho" ad. And Bush's "stay the course" flip. And the mishandling of Foley-gate. And the ad by Don Sherwood -- the congressperson who swears he didn't strangle his mistress -- in which he tries to blame the war on his Democratic opponent. I could go on and on.
My overall question: Is this how Republicans normally do business? Or are they acting in a particularly vile fashion in order to create revulsion?
The "hari kari" theory has occurred to others. Perhaps G.O.P. string-pullers have decided that they would prefer for economic ragnarok to occur on a Democratic watch. Since the Asians, who fund our deficit, are backing away from investments in America, any chess player capable of thinking three or four moves ahead may have concluded that this is an election best forfeited.
Here's one "tell":
A judge has ordered the release of photos and video displaying evidence of rape and murder at Abu Ghraib. We know from other sources that children were among the victims of this barbarism. When these images are released -- as they will be -- the party of Bush will receive a crippling blow. Even the most committed Jesusmaniac may not have the belly to vote for the people responsible for such madness. The red-staters will see the true face of the culture they have created. Their twisted militarism, their patriotic sadism, their hypocritical piety, their elevation of Id over reason will stand forever indicted.
The photos will remain unreleased for the next twenty days in order to allow the administration a chance to appeal. If the photos show up before that time -- before the election -- consider the possibility that someone in or near the administration decided to saddle the Dems with insurmountable near-future problems.
8 comments:
you know, joe, i just cannot give them that much credit.
not that it's such a truly clever scheme. in fact, it doesn't really look like a scheme at all, but complete chaotic meltdown. on the one hand, they try to 'court' blacks with an ad about ho's, and then turn around and try not so subtle racist stuff. and that's just one example.
all this does is expose their desperation, and their stupidity.
the stupidity and incompetence they exhibited with iraq and this entire congress, with everything, that's what we're seeing in spades with these ads, except that they are now really really desperate.
which brings up a larger point. why would they expose themselves to investigation and possibly jail time just to set the dems up for failure?
no, i honestly believe that we are witnessing the inevitable self-destruction of a perpetual greed machine. because they've never presented an honest position or policy in going on two decades now, because everything they show the public is contrived and manipulative, when they're backed into a corner, the lies lose their previous, apparent coordination and just screech with panic.
i wish i could say it isn't music to my ears.
...egh. I can't go with the "trying to lose to screw over Dems" theory, either. Of course, unlike dr. e, I'm tempted to call what the Republicans are doing (in my neck of the woods, at least) a rather well-played scheme of another sort.
At first, I thought that some of the Republicans either challenging our Dem incumbents or trying to hold onto their offices here in California's Canada might just have lost their minds or something. Teh Crazy (and Teh Lies) in their ads were so extreme. Then, I took a closer look at the ads, which are, for the most part, quite well done, (as baseless and highly manipulative attacks, anyway) and decided that the ads weren't merely desperate attempts to get and keep empty-shirt Reps in office, as they were truly professional and deeply offensive propaganda designed to maliciously insult the candidates and play on the worst fears our voters continue to struggle with. Ugh. Terrible.
And then it became obvious to those of us bothering to put in time in campaign offices here that while the DNC's candidates were running around trying to hold onto their constituents, the neo-cons had once again er, "movtivated" the churches to really lay into any parishioners even thinking about not Republican. Which, from what I've observed, has worked shockingly well, especially because I've heard Dem volunteers from alllll over the state are experiencing similar problems WRT to the "Christian" vote. The lowest and most disappointing voter contact rates for the candidates I've been supporting are always on Monday and Tuesday...particularly in the morning. (Those are also the days of the weeks when I've personally gotten the highest number of people frustratedly sputtering out justifications connected with their "values" at their rationale for witholding their vote from Democrats.)
So, I don't think it's chaos or hari-kari; I think it's an even more insidious redux of the 2002/2004 strategy, with more subtle subversion happening in order as to create the illusion they've totally give up. Sadly, that's the other major obstacle we've hit in my city, though--too many Democrats who were out in force in '04 and even '05 to support our candidates are either staying home or forcing us to literally drag them into the campaign offices this time, because, in my estimation, they believe the Republicans to be "already finished." Every time I get rejected by one of those fools, I have the urge to drive to his or her house and slap someone.
why doesn't anyone address the issue whoever owns the companies that make the electronic voting machines and tabulator machines control how the votes get counted and that Rove has already made the necessary payoffs, threats and blackmail to commit whatever electoral fraud is necessary to keep the house and senate?
I think that the conservatives are beginning to wakeup and smell the coffee and realize where BushCo is marching this country down a road leading to an abolute police state.
They are becoming desparate as they realize how out of control bushco is becoming and how this country is fast turning into a dictatorship.
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http://barrychamish.com
I hope nobody clicks on the above
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address when you click on them.
Someone posting links on a site such
as this could be collecting IP
addresses of cannonfire fans.
Joe, I do think this is a set up in alot of ways. The3 Republicans CONTROL everything,the images, the talking points, etc. I have wondered from the get go.... are they setting us up? I have no clue for what but can only imagine.....Bush has sold us out to some new arrangement here in North America and my guess is this is to make it look like the democrats gave the country away. However, there are three parties in DC already, Repubs, Demos, and NEOCONS> It is the NEOCONS who need removal from our system. Neocons do not share our American values. The Republicans were taken over in a coup..... perhaps they are trying to reclaim their party but I do not trust anyone wearing the scarlet R.
Is this how Republicans normally do business?
Yes, and it's worked for them so far.
sure, this is the way the repugs do business; have been since nixon.
and jen, your observations do concern me, but there is still the fact that polled independents are leaning dem 2 to 1. those individuals you've seen get scared, i don't believe they exist in the numbers they have in the past. moreover, many churches have turned away from bush, so there are those numbers, too.
but here's the thing, and it's a delicious irony.
the repugs are proving one of the pearliest of wisdoms to fall from the lips of their noble (but now, so utterly dishonored by them) founder, abe:
you really cannot fool all the people all the time.
(and here is the cue for that priceless video of bush butchering that aphorism, conflating it with the who...what a moment)
true, the repugs control most of everything, but they do NOT control everything. they don't control me. they don't control you.
so, even if they've manipulated the biggest vote fraud in the history of the world, we SO FAR still have our minds and our voices and our principles.
i have no doubt it felt hopeless to the french resistance, but they survived, and they ultimately prevailed. true, it took a little help from their yankee friends, but we have to remember, we - meaning we, the people of these great united states of america - WE have a LOT of friends out there.
i'm working on a short post about this thought, this thought of hope, but meanwhile bear in mind that bush may well be right on at least this point:
this is a battle not just between civilizations, it is a battle FOR civilization.
and beautry always prevails.
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